“Don’t become a hermit. You wouldn’t let me do that and I won’t let you.”
“I appreciate you’re on hermit patrol and I thank you for your service, but it’s all good. I’ll speak to you later.”
I delved into my work where I could be alone.
Just past midday, my phone buzzed. “Hey,” I whispered.
“I dreamt of you,” he said.
I got up and closed the door to my office.
“Was it a good dream?” I asked.
“You were going down on me, so I’d say so.”
“How romantic. You say the sweetest things.” I laughed.
“I don’t like waking up without you,” he said, and my heart tripped.
“I know. I don’t like you waking up without me either. Only three weeks until your next real-life blow job,” I said, trying to lighten the mood.
I heard him groan on the other end of the phone. I laughed. “Get in the shower, you bum. I’ll call you when I’m home.”
Ethan
I put the phone down and headed into the bathroom. Was jerking off when she wasn’t on the end of the phone cheating? I was going to have to establish rules about that. I had the hard-on to end all hard-ons and it was ruining my concentration. I picked up my phone again to see what emails had come in overnight. That should help redistribute my blood flow better.
We’d managed two snatched conversations since I’d left. Was this what it was going to be like? I had really held myself back when we’d finally talked about our future together. What I wanted to do was throw her over my shoulder and bring her back to New York with me. But I had managed to control myself. She seemed to want to understand what I wanted and it had been difficultfor me to establish what was going to make her happy. When I’d suggested trying a long distance relationship she’d seemed relieved.
I wasn’t sure which alternative had made her anxious—the thought of me taking her back with me, or ending it. But I hadn’t pushed her. Perhaps I feared her answer. We’d promised no bullshit, but as much as I felt she was holding something back, I was too. I hadn’t demanded that she come back to New York. The thought of her in London, without me, was fucking terrifying—she could change her mind about us, or meet someone else. The thought of me without her was fucking terrifying—she had become like oxygen. I couldn’t really remember myself before her and what I did remember, I didn’t like. I didn’t want to go back to sex without complications or ambiguity. Anna was everything I’d spent my life fighting against and now the only thing I wanted.
Three weeks. How would I survive three weeks? I was struggling to get through a few hours. I needed a plan. I’d hit the gym. That would work. I’d need to be putting plenty of hours in at the office. That would be a good distraction. And I could hang out with my old college friends, Andrew and Mandy, this weekend. That was a plan. Now I just needed to set about making sure Anna wasn’t distracted by something or someone other than me. I was going to make sure I was always front and center of her mind.
“So, are you officially pussy whipped?”Andrew asked. My smile spread across my face and I shrugged. “I knew it would happen at some point,” he said.
Andrew had suggested lunch and I’d had my assistantorganize reservations at the place where we’d not-so-accidently “run into” Anna and Leah the morning after our first night together. I’d been crazy about her even back then.
“What can I say? She’s worth being whipped for.”
“So, she’s coming over for Christmas?”
“New Year’s,” I corrected. “I’m taking my folks to Aspen for Christmas. They’re disappointed not to be with Izzy, so I thought Aspen might make it up to them. And then Anna flies in on the twenty-seventh.”
“And then what?”
“And then what what?”
“Well, is she going to move over permanently? Are you going to London? Are you going to marry her?”
Yes, yes and yes? No, maybe and one day? I didn’t have an answer. I shrugged again.
“But you love her right?”
I couldn’t stop the grin that spread across my face. “Yeah, I love her.”
“So make it happen, dude.”
Andrew was a great friend. He could have been giving me miles of shit for going soft but instead he wanted me to get my girl.
